The Dallas-based development group has just closed on 17.2 acres, an acquisition falling less than five months after a 15-acre buy for a sister corner at FM 720, or Main Street, and Teel Parkway. Miller now controls the northwest and northeast corners of the signaled intersection.

Some 300,000 sf of retail is being planned. A 56,000-sf Tom Thumb will headline a traditional grocery-anchored center on the northeast corner. The northwest anchor's identity is not ready to disclose, but the deal is within weeks of a final signing, Vaughn Miller, president of the retail division, tells GlobeSt.com. He is saying that it's a hard goods retailer.

The sister projects will create a "dynamite" retail hub, Miller says. He believes it's the best intersection by far in Frisco and opportunity lies in being the first out of the gate. "We want the first-tier tenants," he says.

Teel Crossing I and II will unfold with 150,000 sf on each side of the parkway. The pent-up demand is such that first phase pre-leasing already has commitments for 50,000 sf of the planned 100,000 sf of inline space. And there's no reason to think that the brisk pre-leasing won't be continuing at its present momentum.

The projects are in final planning stages as the team pushes to get done ASAP so the ground-breakings can take place in the fourth quarter. Miller says he's "90% sure" the projects will kick off together. A late 2003 or early 2004 delivery is being eyed.

Miller says he fields about a half dozen calls a week from residents in an area overflowing with homes and little retail to show. "That's unheard of in Dallas," he says. "It's a developer's dream." He says the rare opportunity is much like the one his grandfather, Henry S. Miller Jr., and Trammell Crow undertook in 1957 to simultaneously deliver the northwest and northeast corners of Preston and Royal in North Dallas. And like Preston Royal Shopping Center, Teel Crossing I and II are being planned as long-term holds.

Miller and Paul Harmon of Henry S. Miller Commercial negotiated the land purchase. Mark Wood of Howe/Wood Co. brokered the sale for Oakmont Land Three LP.

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GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Miller Plans $30M Double Play

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